Many games provide a virtual world or some other imagined playing space where a player of the game controls one or more player characters, engages in in-game actions, and/or acquires in-game assets. Player characters (also referred to as characters or PCs) can be considered in-game representations of the controlling player. A game engine accepts inputs from the player, determines player character actions, decides outcomes of events and presents the player with a game display illuminating what happened. In some games with multiple players, each player may control one or more player characters.
A player of a game can directly engage in in-game actions or indirectly via a player character in a role-playing game. For example, in-game actions may include building a virtual town, growing virtual crops, going on a quest, buying/selling virtual items from a virtual store, and the like. Many games also support acquisition of in-game assets (also referred to as rewards or loot) by a player in order to facilitate control of player characters or to perform in-game actions. Examples of in-game assets include, but are not limited to, acquiring game points, gold coins, experience points, character levels, character attributes, virtual cash, game keys, and other in-game items of value within the game.
In some games, a game engine may manage and display non-player characters (NPCs). Unlike player characters actively managed by players, NPCs get their movements, actions, decisions, etc. from the game engine. The game engine many provide NPCs within a game, for example, to make the game space more realistic or because the game does not have player characters. Because NPCs are not controlled by player inputs, they can sometimes appear lifeless or indistinguishable from each other.
The headings provided herein are for convenience only and do not necessarily affect the scope or meaning of the claimed invention.